luckyluke 2 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 You cannot pick a player,however good he is,if he is a total cunt off the field.Don't forget,Downton noticed how disengaged he was ON the field when he flew out to Australia.How many times has he said `fuck it' and thrown his wicket away,and at times when England needed him to stay in.If his batting has won games then him throwing his wicket away has contributed greatly to England losing games.Yesterday's Mail reported that Pietersen had informed a team physio that if England were to lose the 3rd test in Perth ,his knee was `really going to play up' and he would agitate to leave the tour.To think some on here want him back in the team.Would he threaten to walk out again if England go 2 nil down against Australia.Then again,some on here would accept that behaviour because Pietersen can do what he wants both on and off the field. As I said, I don't know who or what to believe about the off field stuff but I know about the bit in bold. IF Pietersen was a complete cunt of the field he wasn't exactly making himself completely undroppable with his form on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 As I said, I don't know who or what to believe about the off field stuff but I know about the bit in bold. IF Pietersen was a complete cunt of the field he wasn't exactly making himself completely undroppable with his form on it. He was though because he was still performing consistently among our best batters. If everyone loved him off the field he'd still be in the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I went to watch the Graham Norton show be recorded last night and Pietersen was on it. By far the dullest guest. Awkward, little to no craic. Even Neil Diamond had better banter. Still a good cricketer though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10849 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 He was on Sky One's League of Their Own and was boring as fuck too, makes me think he probably deserved any bullying coming his way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/averages/batting.html?class=1;id=2013;type=year Allowing for the fact he played fewer matches than the others, his record in 2013 (av 36) is very similar to Cook (31) Trott (37) and Bell (41). You could say that he's amongst England's best performers, I'd say that he doesn't stand out at all from our mediocre, frequently collapsing batting line up. When all our players produced in 2010-2011 we were the best team in the world but since then we've been wildly inconsistent. Part of this is due to our bowling attack lacking real Steyn/Johnson-like teeth at times but a lot of it is due to our fragile batting line up, that despite having 3 players with 100 tests under their belts still find stupid ways of getting out. Pietersen was definitely part of that problem, and if after Australia the selectors were looking to fresh things up, he apparently made it very easy for them to find someone to drop. Anyway, we'll see how it turns out, 2nd opener aside this England team looks pretty good but it's early days yet. I don't think the batting will radically improve to Bell and Cook are gone too tbh but the former had his 2013 Ashes and the latter is the captain, the record century maker, and nearly the leading runmaker so we'll have to put up with them for a while. As for KP to slightly paraphrase Boycott perhaps if he'd been working on his batting rather than his book then he'd be making a more compelling case for reselection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) The England batting lineup is pretty one paced though. The worst thing about this current side of late has been the slow scoring rate and too many players that can only score runs square of the wicket. I absolutely agree that Pietersen hasn't been in top nick lately. But even despite that he's still consistently been one of England's top performers. And he has the ability to score quickly and all around the wicket so he stands out from the rest in that regard. Throwing his wicket away from time to time is infuriating but also part of his game and something you can accept because on his day he is so destructive. Edited October 10, 2014 by Dr Gloom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35059 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 The England batting lineup is pretty one paced though. The worst thing about this current side of late has been the slow scoring rate and too many players that can only score runs square of the wicket. I absolutely agree that Pietersen hasn't been in top nick lately. But even despite that he's still consistently been one of England's top performers. And he has the ability to score quickly and all around the wicket so he stands out from the rest in that regard. Throwing his wicket away from time to time is infuriating but also part of his game and something you can accept because on his day he is so destructive. Think that with the introduction of Stokes and Buttler and the possible introduction of Alex Hales at the top of the order in the test side then scoring at a decent pace shouldn't be much of a problem. The latter looks to be a good player in the longer format of the game now. He scored nearly a thousand first class runs at over 50 (despite missing a few Championship games for Notts) and we obviously know what power he has. Root isn't going to score at the same rate but he gets his runs at a quick enough lick at test level too. You'll probably see Moeen at 8 if Stokes is back in the side too. @@luckyluke Fair assessment. Re: the bowling side of things hopefully Finn will come back into the reckoning as he provides something different. If Stokes is in then it takes the pressure off Finn a bit having that extra seamer. I think a lot of Finn's problems stem from Flower and co. trying to make him into a Glen McGrath clone instead of allowing him to bowl quick. Ironically Plunkett, who has done well for Yorkshire but really isn't in Finn's class has been picked as 'shock' rather than 'stock' bowler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 The way Finn was handled down under in the winter was shocking. How to totally destroy a player's confidence. Piss poor to pick Tremlett too when he clearly wasn't the player he was too just because he did it on the previous four. Just bad management all around from the ecb. Bit like not selecting onions the summer before last when he was in the form of his life. He's never let England down either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) I hope Alex Hayles does come good at test level because the second opening position is a problem. And it'd be nice to see an aggressive opener. We haven't really had one since trescothick. Again another problem with the ecb and current coaching set up is the negativity. Cook shouldn't really be opening at one day level. The game has moved on. You need players that can score quickly at the top of the order. Even at test level it's good to have a mix of stroke makers and accumulators opening. I used to love seeing Sehwag come in for India and just hit it if it was in his scoring area. Either get out or score a quick fire 50 or 100. Bowlers hate being smacked all over the shop from the get go at test level. Applying plans and pressure goes out of the window when you've got someone always looking to score at one end. I just can't imagine, if Sehwag was English, our conservative selectors ever being that bold and selecting him to open. Edited October 10, 2014 by Dr Gloom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35059 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Anyone seen this, btw: Gilchrist batting to Shaun Tait at the MCC v Rest of the World match to celebrate Lord's 200th anniversary this summer via a GoPro camera in his helmet (f'narr, f'narr). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken 119 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35059 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken 119 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThEsPISW2DX7zqJd23qePeLEfOIL97_Ga7gIXCcMWLofFIwggwbA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Anyone seen this, btw: Gilchrist batting to Shaun Tait at the MCC v Rest of the World match to celebrate Lord's 200th anniversary this summer via a GoPro camera in his helmet (f'narr, f'narr). fucking hell. blink and you miss it. how the hell they pick the ball up at that pace, i have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 best bit of analysis i've read on the KP farce so far from Boycs. nail on the head. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/11152806/Kevin-Pietersens-autobiography-ECB-must-take-some-blame-for-this-sorry-saga.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 best bit of analysis i've read on the KP farce so far from Boycs. nail on the head. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/11152806/Kevin-Pietersens-autobiography-ECB-must-take-some-blame-for-this-sorry-saga.html Sorry thought I'd replied to this before. For all his name dropping Boycs clearly has as much an idea of what goes on in the England dressing room as you or I so to say he's hit the nail on the head is pretty wide of the mark iyam. (Mixed metaphors ftw!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Aye thought Boycott was pretty spot on there. Read KP's book like and there's nothing much in there that we didn't already suspect. (Especially his portrayal of Flower) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Sorry thought I'd replied to this before. For all his name dropping Boycs clearly has as much an idea of what goes on in the England dressing room as you or I so to say he's hit the nail on the head is pretty wide of the mark iyam. (Mixed metaphors ftw!) I reckon he's got more of a clue than me like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35059 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Just thought I'd mention how well the Aussies are doing at the minute seeing as Ken seems to have forgotten to keep us all informed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35059 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Ken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Always good to see them floundering. Though regrettably I'd still fancy them at the moment against our sorry lot, even at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21912 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Enjoyable stats in here mind http://m.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/australias-worst-bowling-series-in-137-years-of-test-cricket-20141103-11g04o.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimaad22 4156 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Damn it I'd forgotten about Ken. Where is he? Quite an incredible series. Records tumbling right, left and centre. Thoroughly entertaining watching Misbah not declaring yesterday, batting just for the hec of it and ending up getting the fastest century record to really rub it in. What a surprisingly wonderful week of sport this was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Chuffed for Pakistan, it must be shit to have all their games played abroad, and with all the spot fixing hoo har of recent years. And they did it without Ajmal, a big player for them until the ICC bothered to check if he chucked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimaad22 4156 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 We're wondering how long before one of the new spinners gets reported. Governance in cricket is a complete joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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